|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA MEN'S 1ST & 2ND ROUNDS REGIONALS: BIRMINGHAMMarch 21, 2008Ron ArrowDemetric BennettDaon MerrittBIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll start with an opening statement from coach and then take questions for the student-athletes. COACH ARROW: We knew that they were a very experienced team that worked very hard to get the next guy an open shot. And tonight was no exception. It's not that I didn't think -- I got to go back, but a lot of those shots, 3-point shots that they made we were right on them. But 18 assists speaks for itself. They do a very good job of finding the open man and when you have five seniors that have worked together and got to the tournament, and as many victories and as many tough teams that they have been able to play in getting to where they are today, after playing them, that they can shoot the ball like that, they're going to go a long way in this tournament. THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes. Q. For both players, talk about Butler's defense and how that made it so difficult for you getting into your offense. DEMETRIC BENNETT: Well, I think they played good defense and they played hard the whole game. Even when they got up they never let up. They played good. They're just a good team. DAON MERRITT: Like he said, they're a good ball club. They play well together. They have -- I'm sure they have a set of rules and things they go by, and it works and it really, really does. Early, I think, we came out -- we played good, we got what we wanted and they made adjustments. And we didn't. Q. Talk about the guy that was guarding you, that 6'7", Streicher, I guess. He seemed to be long and you just didn't have any room to get your shots off, basically. DEMETRIC BENNETT: He played good defense. Every time I tried to go around it there was somebody there helping and he just played good. His size and everything was -- I don't think it was that effective, I just couldn't make any shots and they just played good team defense and he played good defense, too. Q. Daon, or Demetric, why was it so hard to stop Campbell today? DAON MERRITT: I think he got on a roll and when a player gets on a roll like that, he's just feeling it, I mean that's what anybody -- it's pretty much hard to stop. He's a talented player, he made shots when it mattered. DEMETRIC BENNETT: I think they did a good job of finding him in transition. The clock went down, the drive and kick, they're a good team, and they always made the extra pass when somebody made a mistake or when somebody left them open, he just made it. He got his confidence going early. He made all his shots. THE MODERATOR: Okay, you guys can head back to the locker room if you like, and we'll go ahead and take questions for Coach Arrow at this point. Q. Talk about the stretch there in the end of the first half that it was 22-22 and then they just, as Coach Stevens was saying, he thinks they got nine of the next ten rebounds and just stretched it out there. What sort of changed for them? COACH ARROW: We started missing some shots, they started making some shots, we missed free throws, and I thought that we got down a little bit, and they kept coming right at us. Whenever, and again, I got to go back and look, but I don't think that our defense on the 3-point line is indicative of what it shows here. I thought that we were on some of their shooters a lot of the times, and they just buried them, I mean buried them and buried them and buried them. And when that happens a lot of times you're not making free throws, the free throw situation, I mean, I think we shot 14 more free throws than them and made one more than them. Then compound that, we just got down, we didn't fight back, I thought the second half we came back and made a little run, I think cut it to 12, 13 points and I thought we were going to get going and credit them, they came back and hit two big threes back-to-back and got on another roll. And we just didn't answer. They are a very -- and I've said this, to be a 7 seed, I think that they're a little bit better than that. But, when you run up against a team, and there will be some other ones in this tournament, whenever you run up to somebody that's going to hit threes like that, they're going to upset some people. And I'm not saying that this was an upset, I'm just saying, by far, that when they go against Tennessee, if they can hit like that, they have got a great shot at beating Tennessee. Just like Tennessee, if they're hitting their threes, they have got a great shot of winning this whole thing. But the bottom line is those threes can either break you or make you. Q. You touched on this a little bit already, but how frustrating is it defensively when you play good defense and then a guy buries one from 24, 25 feet and a lot of those shots were from that kind of distance? COACH ARROW: Yeah, we had four guys at different times on him. We had bigger guys, smaller guys, and he just got into a groove. In today's game, you get a couple guys, you get a guy that hits a couple and he gets into that groove. I don't care if he's two feet from the hole or 30 feet from the hole, he starts feeling it and you're in trouble. And he definitely -- they definitely shoot 50 percent from the three, I'm going to be anxious to go back and see the game, and see exactly how many of them were tightly guarded with a hand right in their face. You know, it's a shame, because the one elimination game -- and they played very good, I'm not taking anything away from them, I mean if they shoot like that, they're going to win a lot more games. And they play pressure defense, they work very good together. But it's just a shame, because I know what this team, our team did this year and to end it like this is just, I feel bad for the two seniors, because we're definitely a better team than this. But they had something to do with it. Q. I know you said that this may be the best one of the best passing teams you've seen in quite a few years, were you surprised at all as well as they moved the ball when they got on the interior? COACH ARROW: No. I made the statement, I've seen them play three different games and scouting them, I saw a couple times during the year and they might be the best passing team I've seen in more than a couple years. They really, really know where each other are. They get in there and they jump up and they can hit the post, they can hit the wings, they just have a good feel for one another. And we did the same thing, we just didn't bury the shots. We missed gosh, we had to miss, we led the Sun Belt in assists and we had, what? Eight tonight. We averaged almost 16. So it's one of those deals, the tournament is a one shot and you're out, and we'll go on back and accept and wish them the best of luck unless they play Western Kentucky. Q. You said they got one chance to see you, are you concerned that people watching this game would say hey, the Sun Belt shouldn't have had two teams anyway? COACH ARROW: Let me just say this: There is no doubt in my mind after this game before the game, during the game, we deserved to be in this tournament. I know some things have been said about our team. I don't think that once the committee gets the 65 teams in it that anything should be said. You shouldn't knock any teams that make it to this tournament. The committee goes by a criteria. If you're going to knock something, knock the criteria, change the criteria for getting into the tournament. We did -- everything that we did during this game is not going to spoil the year for us. We were 4-1 against teams in this tournament, we were 3-2 against Top-50 teams, I think we were 5-3 against top 100 teams. San Diego won the WCC or whatever conference they're in, we beat them 22 or 24 points earlier in the year. We beat Western Kentucky twice. The criteria that is set forth right now, we did what that criteria calls for. And I'm glad that the committee went by the criteria. If people don't like the criteria and all they want is the BCS teams in it, then write that into the criteria. And let other teams go have a tournament, let the BCS teams have a tournament, and let the two winners play for the national championship. But the way the criteria is now, there's no doubt in my mind, we deserved to be in it. I'm just sorry that -- there will be a lot of them probably say, well, we said so. But that doesn't bother me. Q. The fact that a lot of people were upset that the none -- that the conferences like yours and Butler got a lot of times that that was the matchup as opposed to the BCS conferences getting matched against the so called Mid Major, do you look at that as a conspiracy out there? COACH ARROW: I don't think it's a conspiracy, but I think a lot of those people that are talking on TV, where did they play ball at? Duke, North Carolina. They're used to the big boys getting into the tournament. And, but they did come back and say one thing, I think the biggest thing was Arizona State not getting into the tournament. Well then they came back the next day and said, well, they should have been in before Arizona, because they beat Arizona twice. You know, you can go on and on and on. You put 120 teams into the tournament, 121, 122 is going to be upset. So the bottom line is, whatever they put the criteria to be, then go by the criteria and then don't say anything about the teams that get in. That's what the committee is there for and know the criteria and go by it. And we definitely met the criteria this year. THE MODERATOR: Okay. Thank you, coach. COACH ARROW: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|